Agent Information Software, Inc (AIFS) research, news, and more from GeoInvesting

Company description

Tue, 26 Mar 2019 19:30:21 GMT

Agent Information Software, Inc. provides software products and services used to create, manage, publish and access information content through the Internet/Web. The Company provides data automation solutions to customers across multiple industries. The Company offers Software as a Service (SaaS) services, database subscriptions, and software maintenance and support contracts. The Company's resource management solutions are used by customers across multiple industries, including a range of library markets, such as public, academic, school, special and consortia, as well as legal, financial, publishing, aerospace and manufacturing. The Company's subsidiaries include Auto-Graphics, Inc., which provides software products and services to customers in the library community throughout the United States and A-G Canada Ltd., which provides software products and services to customers in the library community in Canada.

Research

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 18:36:52 GMT

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS) ($1.11; $5.2M market cap) announced it has been acquired by Soutron Global, an internationally recognized SaaS provider of information management and preservation solutions.

“The transaction is valued at $12.0 million with proceeds of $10.4 million paid at the close of the transaction and $1.6 million held in escrow and reserve for a potential payment 18 months from the transaction date. This represents a total price per share of $2.34, which is a 111% premium to the closing price as of March 27, 2025, of which, up to $0.35 will be paid in 18 months.

“I am very excited about the future of Auto-Graphics with our new partner Soutron Global”, said Paul Cope, President of Auto-Graphics. “After 51 years of working at A-G, a company founded by my grandfather 75 years ago, it was time for me to pass on the reins. Soutron Global is combining the management of the companies to make us stronger, and I am sure they will bring fresh ideas to the combined company. I know the Auto-Graphics team will continue the work to facilitate the lending of library books, digital assets and other resources available to millions of library goers. I have had the pleasure of meeting great customers and working with a staff that are like family. I look forward to watching the next evolution of the company”.

While we have tracked AIFS for about a decade, the stock has been rangebound throughout that time period, never fully breaking out.

AIFS provides software products and services in the library community that are used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada,

Research

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 12:42:26 GMT

Agent Information Software Inc a company that provides software products and services in the library community that are used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada, announced that the Texas State Library has selected SHAREit as their new statewide interlibrary loan system. We offered some details in our October 30, 2023 research note, but were able to find a more specific breakout of the contract which you can see below.

The per year contract size is at the larger end of what we had thought it could be. This adds roughly 10% to the annual revenue run rate per year. We are curious now that Covid is behind us if states will now be more open to spending money to adopt the SHAREit platform for their libraries.

Research

Sun, 12 Nov 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS) a company that provides software products and services in the library community that are used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada announced Q3 2023 results:

Sales of $1.33 million vs $1.31 million in the prior year
EPS of $0.02 vs $0.06 in the prior year

Research

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 04:00:00 GMT

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS)($1.68; $7.8M market cap), a company that provides software products and services in the library community that are used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada, announced that the Texas State Library has selected SHAREit as their new statewide interlibrary loan system.

In our article from October 2020, we mentioned that if AIFS was able to sign up all 50 states to its SHAREit product. It could generate $10 to $20 million in sticky annual recurring revenue, given the SHAREit product carries a $200,000 to $400,000 per year price tag.

The potential significance of this development is that it appears that the company hasn’t released any new contract since 2020. However, we still need to verify that is the case, as well as the size of the Texas contract. The stock has been inching up since the contract win.

This development also contains a little bit of information arbitrage since the news release was only on the company’s website and nowhere else that we see.

Research

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 14:37:09 GMT

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS)($1.85; $8.6M market cap), a company that provides software products and services in the library community that are used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada, announced Q4 2022 results:

Sales of $1.25 million vs $1.21 million in the prior year
Loss of $0.01 vs loss of $0.05 in the prior year
Full year sales $5.2 million vs $5.1 million in the prior year
Full year EPS of $0.07 vs $0.00 in the prior year

Results were via the company’s annual report, no management discussion and analysis.

Research

Tue, 03 May 2022 14:27:41 GMT

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS)($1.92; $8.9M market cap), a company that provides software products and services used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada announced Q1 2022 results:

Sales of $1.29 million vs $1.30 million

EPS of $0.01 vs $0.02

Research

Fri, 05 Nov 2021 17:13:02 GMT

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS)($2.00; $9.3M market cap), a company that provides software products and services in the library community that are used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada announced Q3 2021 results:

Sales of $1.30 million vs $1.4 million in the prior year
EPS of $0.01 vs $0.02 in the prior year

Thus far the results are only via 10-Q, so no commentary from management.

Research

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 14:24:14 GMT

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS)($2.00; $9.3M market cap), a company that provides software products and services used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada announced Q2 2021 results:

Sales of $1.30 million vs $1.32 million in the prior year
EPS of $0.02 vs $0.01 in the prior year

Thus far the results are only via 10-Q, so no commentary from management.

Research

Thu, 13 May 2021 16:26:35 GMT

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS)($2.16; $14.53M market cap), a company that provides software products and services used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada announced Q1 2021 results:

Sales of $1.29 million vs $1.285 million in the prior year
Diluted EPS of $0.02 vs $0.02 in the prior year

While there were no comments offered as part of this financial report (as expected), please feel free to take a look at our past coverage and two reports (one by us and one by a contributor) published in late 2020:

December 18, 2020 - Small, Relatively Obscure Saas Company For Libraries And Data Management
October 5, 2020 - No One Is Talking About This Boring Company with a Substantial Moat

Overall, as stated in our initial report, although we like AIFS, we believe that the company will need to to explore additional growth catalysts to take its business and stock price to the next level

Research

Thu, 01 Apr 2021 17:29:59 GMT

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS)($2.79; $12.5M market cap), a company that provides software products and services used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada announced Q4 2020 results:

Sales of $1.3 million vs $1.4 million in the prior year
EPS of $0.03 vs $0.00 in the prior year

As of now, only the 10-K has been filed which has little to no commentary from management, we await the Q4 press release for possible comments and outlook from management. As we have stated in the past, we like the company's multi-bagger potential in the long run. However, in the short run, the company will need to explore ways to expand the applications of its software outside its current library market.

Research

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 15:56:40 GMT

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS) reported Q3 2020 results:

Sales of $1.4 million vs $1.4 million in the prior year
EPS of $0.02 vs EPS of $0.03 in the prior year

“The company’s versatile AGent Library Software Platform continues to provide solutions that empower libraries across North America, to provide more products and services to their communities. A-G had success in cross selling SHAREit, VERSO and MONTAGE to its existing base of customers who needed to provide enhanced services during the pandemic. In addition, the company completed an important new implementation of SHAREit as part of another statewide resource sharing initiative.”

Research

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 04:00:00 GMT

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS)($3.05; $13.6M market cap), a company that provides software products and services used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada announced Q2 2020 results:

Sales of $1.31 million vs $1.24 million in the prior year
EPS of $0.01 vs $0.03 in the prior year

We need to dig into the quarter to see what impacted margins. Last week we published an update on the opportunity AIFS has that could make the stock a multibagger over time due to the company's dominance in part of its target market, although revenue may grow at a slow grind. See our latest research note here.

Research

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 00:19:05 GMT

AIFS will probably not be for everyone. The stock has 4.5 million shares outstanding and float of 1.1 million. It’s 6 months daily average trading volume is only 1585 shares. Yet, even though we have not been able to accumulate a large position in the stock, we are adding AIFS to our high conviction model portfolio. The biggest caveats we see with the story are that contracts are tied to federal and state government budgets and that the market segment driving growth is tiny.

Quick Facts

Focus – SaaS Library management services, mainly for public libraries
Price - $2.39
Market Cap: $10.7 Million
Shares outstanding (Basic): 4.5 million
TTM revenues: $5.4 million
P/S: 1.98
EV/S: 1.5
TTM Earnings per share: $0.09
TTM P/E: 26.6
Current ratio: 1.6
Debt: Zero
Book value per share: $0.88
Tangible book value per share: $0.24
CEO: Paul Cope
Employees: 28
Headquarters: Rancho Cucamonga, California
Website: www.auto-graphics.com/

Products and Services

AIFS software services help libraries save money. AIFS primary product lines include:

Verso is an integrated library system (ILS) that is like an enterprise resource planning system for libraries allowing them total control of all activities and items in the library.
SHAREit is an interlibrary loan (ILL) management system that allows one library to lend or borrow books to and from other libraries.

Brief History

AIFS entered our radar during one of a September 2015 earnings press release research session, where the company reported strong EPS growth.

Shares were trading at $0.36 and Since then, the stock has gradually risen, hitting a high of $3.39 in September 2019.

AIFS Went public through a traditional IPO in 1969 and was founded in 1950 by the current CEO’s Grandfather. The current CEO, Paul Pope, has been in the position since his dad passed the baton to him in 2005.

The name Agent Information Software Inc. came about in 2010, but had previously operated under the name Auto-Graphics Inc., Auto, meaning computer and Graphics, referring to type setting. The company initially performed type setting services, but eventually exited the business because it became less specialized as the desktop computer gained popularity, creating more efficient methods of type setting solutions and less of a need for AIFS’ hands on services.

Basically, the industry became commoditized. So, in the 1970s and 80’s, AIFS moved into providing solutions for libraries. Initially, it focused on providing data conversion to libraries wherein its services facilitated the entry of library card catalogues data into databases. This move made sense as the company already had 150 people doing manual typesetting data entry tasks. AIFS began performing data conversions into microfilm or microfiche, to CD-ROM and later into minicomputers.

This gradually evolved to its current library SaaS, cloud based, management software business that helped libraries adopt on-line management and customer service solutions. By 2003, AIFS exited all non-core business lines to focus on public library SaaS product lines that I’ll discuss later in this report.

The company voluntarily terminated its registration with the SEC in 2004, but began filing financial reports with the OTC in 2014. You might be thinking what I originally thought when I first stumbled upon AIFS in September 2015 and didn’t buy it at $0.36! Where is the growth in the library business? Looking at historical figures, the business does not look very exciting. AIFS’s revenue has grown from $4.8 million in 2011 to just $5 million in 2019. However, cash and shareholder equity have meaningfully increased since 2011…

Cash increased from in 2011 $610,000 to $2.7 million in 2019
Shareholder Equity increased from $2.1 million in 2011 to $3.5 million in 2019

… and the company has remained solidly profitable, reaching a record EPS of 9 cents in 2019, albeit EPS growth has been on a slow grind. The company also initiated an annual dividend in 2018. Finally, gross margins were a mouth-watering 79% in 2019.

Had I dug a little deeper I would have found that the company has been providing library management and resource sharing software for nearly 50 years. It was also the first company to launch cloud-based library resource sharing solutions that libraries use to share book inventories to reduce costs.

Furthermore, the company operates a SaaS model, where almost 100% of its revenues are recurring, which ensures revenue predictability. Recurring revenue increased every quarter on a YOY basis since Q1-2018, with an exception in Q4-2019. It finished at over $5 million in FY19, the first time in company’s history.

Around 11,000 Libraries use AIFS software platforms, but we are most excited about their inventory book sharing platform that currently has a presence in 15 states which has a runway for 100% penetration into all 50 states. It is becoming apparent to me that even with little growth, AIFS might have some moat-type characteristics that give it long-term multi-bagger potential, especially if it can find new growth markets for its software platforms.

Caveats

The stock has risen sharply in the last few months (since March 2020), up nearly 100%.
A prolonged economic downturn due to COVID-19 or a more aggressive second wave of infections could delay RFPs or new contracts, thereby impacting sales.
Growth prospects of AIFS are tied to government funding for public libraries. Any reduction in that could adversely impact the business.
The rising competitive intensity remains a risk. Specifically, some of the large players (Ex Libris, OCLC) have recently started focusing on the ILL space in the US.
The stock is extremely illiquid

Research

Thu, 04 Jun 2020 16:19:43 GMT

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS)($1.85; $7.9M market cap), a company that provides software products and services used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada announced a cash dividend of $0.03 per share.

“Auto-Graphics continues to see growth with their resource sharing product SHAREit, along with VERSO and MONTAGE bringing more customers to the company.”

In related news, on June 2, 2020 the company announced that the New Mexico State Library selected Auto-Graphics’s Montage to upgrade their digital collection software management system.

We initiated our long position in May 2019 based on the company’s recurring revenue model and strong Q1 results. Please note that the stock is extremely illiquid.

Research

Thu, 15 Aug 2019 17:23:12 GMT

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS) ($2.15; $9.5M market cap), a company that provides software products and services used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada, announced that its cloud-based resource sharing solution, SHAREit, has been selected by the New Hampshire State Library. The New Hampshire State Library, the oldest state library in the United States, will use SHAREit to support the New Hampshire Automated Information System (NHAIS) which includes the 234 public libraries in the state as well as academic, school, and special libraries. Agent has a strong history of serving statewide systems supported through state libraries.

In our May 1, 2019 email we mentioned that we initiated a starter position based on the recurring revenue model and added to our long position on May 15, based on the strong Q1 results.

We plan to update our research after our recent interview with management. The key takeaway from the interview was that although the company's current market share opportunity, while not particularly huge, offers a best-in-class product in its industry category. This might make AIFS an interesting acquisition target at some point down the line. Furthermore, almost all the revenue the company generates is recurring, secured by long-term contracts. Ultimately, we think the company will grow slowly, but steadily over time.

Research

Wed, 15 May 2019 16:55:36 GMT

Added To Our AIFS Long Position

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS)($1.86; $7.9M market cap), a company that provides software products and services used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada, reported Q1 2019 results via 10-Q yesterday during the trading day.

Sales of $1.4 million vs $1.2 million in the prior year
EPS of $0.04 vs $0.01 in the prior year

AIFS offered no commentary in the 10-Q and has yet to issue a press release for the quarter. We are watching for the release to see if management offers any commentary/outlook for the remainder of 2019. In our May 1, 2019 email we mentioned that we initiated a starter position based on the recurring revenue model as we await to interview management. Based on the strong results yesterday, we’ve added to our long position.

Research

Wed, 01 May 2019 04:00:00 GMT

Took a Starter Position In AIFS

On April 8, 2019 we said we were taking a closer look at Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS)($1.80; $7.6M market cap). While the company has had a slow growth rate, it’s the company’s recurring revenue model that has drawn us to follow the company more closely. We initiated a small starter position while we continue to try to arrange a call with management to determine if revenue growth can accelerate.

Research

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 15:09:31 GMT

**AIFS RFT In The Works

Agent Information Software Inc (OOTC:AIFS)($1.40; $5.9M market cap) provides software products and services used to create, manage, publish, and access information content through Internet/Web in the United States and Canada. AIFS is very slow growth company, but has a high recurring revenue model with its information management software. We are looking to schedule an interview to determine if revenue growth can accelerate.